Forever Saturday

Serena and Matt say their prayers for Blake Corum, briefly look back at an Illinois game that really didn't matter (and was treated accordingly, for better or worse), and then turn to The Game: We know what these teams are philosophically, so what do we feel good about, what do we feel much less good about, and what's in front of Michigan as Football Armageddon 2.0 looms.

Serena and Matt reflect on the significance of Michigan's 10-0 start before getting into the boring-but-thorough beatdown of Nebraska, allocation of blame for the passing game's lingering issues, another Heisman-worthy day from Blake Corum, the defense's continued ascendance, and what we can expect/learn against Illinois, aka "Man Coverage Iowa."

Serena and Matt talk through a weird but somewhat familiar Rutgers game, Michigan's apparent 2022 m.o., the defense's takeover in an absolutely dominant second half, what makes the ground game so good (besides the obvious), the lingering question at receiver, and some special-teams nonsense, then pivot to the, uh, "uninspired" performances elsewhere in the Big Ten and the implications of the updated CFP rankings.

Serena and Matt react to the, uh, questionable" logic behind the College Football Playoff rankings and what (if anything) an initial #5 ranking means for Michigan, then turn to Rutgers and what we can expect/learn against a team that's basically Worse Iowa but will definitely do some things on defense that are much different from what Michigan's been seeing for most of the last month.

Serena and Matt address The Tunnel Nonsense and what happens next from a legal standpoint (with an actual lawyer!), put Michigan State in its place, then move on to the on-field ass-kicking Michigan delivered, including an all-around dominant defensive performance, a "take what you're given game" from the offense, another Heisman-caliber outing for Blake Corum, a lot of Money Moody, and the one thing holding this team back from being truly elite.

Serena and Matt designate a new Five-Star Iowa and declare Penn State not actually bad (but definitely worthy of Jim Harbaugh's dismissiveness), then turn to Michigan-Michigan State to discuss the unbearable discourse, the reality of good Michigan vs. bad Michigan State, fear levels, whether Michigan State has a realistic path to victory, and the genius of Mike Hart.

Serena and Matt look back at a thorough ass-kicking of Penn State for which no caveats are needed, give the run game its due credit, talk #CorumForHeisman, find a few nits to pick in the red zone, point out the defense's equally dominant performance against a pretty good skill-position group, and then turn to the month ahead and the potential for Football Armageddon 2.0.

Serena and Matt unpack an eventful Michigan-Indiana game, rant about the lopsided officiating, give some credit to the defense (and an adjustment), call out a potentially problematic schematic issue on offense, gush over Blake Corum yet again, dissect a pretty good J.J. McCarthy performance, and then spend too much time on Michigan State, dignity, and the Iowa-Illinois rockfight.

Serena and Matt celebrate the end of Kinnick juju, marvel at the beauty of Blake Corum and the (much larger) guys doing serious work on the offensive line, share their thoughts on J.J.'s efficient/Cade-like day, complain a little about the mostly-fine-but-occasionally-shaky defense, then revel in some Sparty schadenfreude and look ahead to an Indiana team that is, uh, not good.

Serena and Matt discuss Michigan's somewhat-uncomfortable-but-kinda-decisive win over Maryland, marvel at Blake Corum, debate J.J. McCarthy's performance, identify the couple of lingering issues that keep popping up on each side of the ball, and look ahead to Iowa to determine whether Kinnick juju actually exists and how much it matters against a team that has apparently opted not to field an offense this year.